Optical device for simultaneously measuring the distance and speed of a moving object with respect to a reference

ABSTRACT

An optical device making it possible to simultaneously measure the distance and radial speed of a moving object with respect to a fixed reference. The device includes at least one laser generator intended to emit at least one light pulse in the direction of said moving object, means to measure the propagation time of said pulse reflected by said moving object, and means for measuring the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;Doppler&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; frequency of said reflected pulse. These spectral analysis means are made up of an acoustic-optical tank arranged in a parallel and monochromatic light beam.

O United States Patent [191 [111 3,765,768 Budin et al. Oct. 16, 1973 [54] OPTICAL DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY 3,360,987 1/1968 Flower et al 356/5 MEASURING THE DISTANCE AND SPEED 3,552,855 1/1971 Crosswy et al 356/28 OF A MOVING OBJECT WITH RESPECT To 3,055,258 9/1962 Hurvitz 356/83 A REFERENCE [75] Inventors: Jean-Pierre Budin, Paris; Georges primary Examiner genjamin Borchelt Roger, salm-Mlchel'sur-orge, both Assistant Examiner-S. C. Buczinski of France Attorney-Sughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak [73] Assignee: Compagnie Generale dElectricite,

Paris, France 2 1, 7 2] Filed Mar 1 l9 1 ABSTRAQT [211 App]. No.: 123,288

An optical device making it possible to simultaneously [30] Foreign Application Priority Data measure the distance and radial speed of a moving ob- Mar. 16, 1970 France 7009288 J' with respect to a fixed reference The device cludes at least one laser generator intended to emit at 52 us. Cl 356/28, 356/4, 356/5, least one light Pulse in the direction of Said moving 3 5 3 object, means to measure the propagation time of said 51 Int. Cl. G0lp 3/36 pulse reflected y said moving object, and means for [58] Field of Search 356/28, 4, 5, 106 R, measuring the p q y of said reflected 3 5 /10 RL pulse. These spectral analysis means are made up. of an acoustic-optical tank arranged in a parallel and 5 References Cited monochromatic light beam.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,409,368 11/1968 Fernandez 356/4 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures [1 (2 LIGHT SOURCE COUNTER 8,. DETECTOR M4 200 100 15 2 14 REFERENCE 1 LIGHT SOURCE 4 e 5 DETECTOR TRANSDUCER 1O ACOUSTIC- OPTICAL TANK u 7 /H\SV/ 9 PATENTEDUET 16 I975 DETECTOR 200 100 [W ucm SOURCE REFERENCE LlGHT SOURCE 5 EDETECTOR TRANSDUCER 10 DETECTOR PATENTEDum 16 I973 SHEET 2 BF 2 FIG.3

OPTICAL DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURING THE DISTANCE AND SPEED OF A MOVING OBJECT WITH RESPECT TO A REFERENCE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an optical device which makes it possible to simultaneously and with great precision measure the distance d and the radial speed v of a moving object with respect to a fixed reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is intended to provide a device for the simultaneous measurement of the distance d and the speed v of a moving object and includes a laser source capable of emitting at least one light pulse at frequency in the direction of said moving object, a system for the detection of a light pulse at frequency 7 due to the reflection of said pulse of frequency 71 from said moving object, 72 being proportional to v, a means for counting the time Ar separating the instant of transmission of said pulse with frequency 7, and the instant of detection of said pulse of frequency 7 d being proportional to Ar, a laser source capable of emitting a reference light beam with frequency 7, optical means for diverting, in a common direction, a portion of said impulse of frequency a portion of said pulse at frequency 7 a portion of said beam at frequency 'y, detection means arranged in said direction and capable of transmitting signals with frequencies 'y and y; 'y, the output of said detection means being connected to the input of a device for the spectral analysis of signals at frequency y, y and y, 'y, composed of an electric transducer connected to an acoustic-optical tank arranged on the path of a light beam.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features and advantages of the invention will appear in the course of the following description with reference to the attached FIGS. given here by way of illustration and without any limitations, where:

FIG. 1 schematically represents an overall view of a device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 schematically represents a partial view of one variation of the device according to the invention; and

FIG. 3 schematically represents an overall view of a second embodiment of the device according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 illustrates, schematically, a source 1, preferably a laser generator, transmitting a light pulse with frequency y, in a direction 2 toward a moving object 3. By way of example, this pulse may have a duration on the order of a few nanoseconds. As a result of the Doppler effect, the pulse eventually reflected by the moving object, 3 is characterized by its frequency 'y such that 'y, y, Z-y (v/c), being the speed of light and v being the radial speed of the moving object.

The device according to the invention furthermore involves a detection means 100 for the pulse reflected by moving object 3, a counting means 200 for counting the time interval A1 separating the transmission of the pulse at frquency y, and the reception, by detector 100, of the pulse at frequency 7,.

A detector 5 is placed in the path 6 and is capable of transmitting, at its output, a signal at frequency 7, 7, followed by a signal at frequency 7 -7. The output of detector 5 is connected to a spectral analysis system, made up of an electric transducer 10 connected to the output of the detector 5 and to the input of an acousticoptical tank 9 filled, for example, with a liquid or a crystal, such as lead molybdate. Tank 9, which is transparent to light, is placed in a light beam 11, which can come from a laser generator, and is followed by an optical system, such as a lens 12 in whose focus one can put a screen 13 or the sensitive surface of a light detector.

Beam 11 may be parallel and can be arranged perpendicularly to the tank 9. However, it is preferably inclined by an angle d: with respect to the tank 9, being essentially equal to half the Bragg angle defined by 4: kf/ V where k is the wave length of the beam 11, V is the propagation speed in the vat of the ultrasonic waves transmitted by the tranducer l0, and f is the average frequency of the signal coming out of the'detector 5.

The device according to the invention operates in the following manner:

In the initial state, no signal is transmitted to the transducer and the beam 11 is focused at 19 at the zero point of screen 13.

A light impulse is transmitted by source 1 in the direction of moving object 3 which is in motion.

The tank receives a signal at frequency y, 'y which deflects the beam 11 and transforms it into a beam 17 which is focused at A upon screen 13. The light impact will be visible at A throughout the entire duration of the propagation of the signal at frequency y, 7 in the tank, for example, a few dozen microseconds.

The moving object 3 reflects the incident pulse. A portion of this pulse is received by detector 100, followed by the counting means 200 which measures the distance d of the moving object 3.

Another portion of the pulse with frequency 7, is detected by detector 5; the tank 9 then deflects the beam 11 and we get a beam 18 which is focused at B on screen 13.

The distance separating the impacts A and B is directly proportional to the frequency difference 7, 7,, that is to say, to the radial speed v of the target: in effect, y, 7 2 x (v/c), c being the speed of light.

The device according to the invention thus makes it possible to measure, with a single pulse, the position and speed of a moving object. The relative positions of points A and B with respect to point 0 make it possible without any ambiguity to define the direction of movement of target with respect to the measurement device if we select -y and 'y, in such a way that ']'y, -'-'yl will always be greater than |'y, 'y l The use of lasers emitting beams with very high frequencies make it possible to determine the differences -y y, with great precision because these differences are proportional to the frequency -y,.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the device according to the invention, wherein the light pulse generator 1 (FIG. 1) is made up of a fraction 26 emitted by the continuous laser 4 in the path in which there is arranged a light modulator 300 as, for example, an electro-optical cell. The beam 26 is taken from the beam 14 by way of elements 27 and 28.

FIG. 2 shows another variation of the device according to the invention, used in the case where the pass band of the electrical transducer 10 limits the frequency band Af of the signals coming from the detector 5, that is to say, the interval of measurable speeds v. The output of detector can be connected to several transducers, for eaxample, 20, 21, 22, having respectively, pass bands Af Af Af such that Af= Af Af Af and centered respectively upon the frequencies f1 f2 Acoustic-optical tanks arranged in beam 11 are respectively excited by the transducers 20, 21, 22 and are inclined upon this beam by an angle ([1,, b 41 (p, are preferably the half-angles of Bragg relative to the frequencies f f f By way of example, only one signal, whose frequency is included in the band Af introduces a deviation of the beam 11 by tank 23. The beam emerging from the tank 23 undergoes a translation movement but no deviation upon passing through tanks 24 and 25.

The number of transducers connected to the detector 5 can be any.

It is of course understood that the invention is by no means confined to the manner of implementation described and shown here which was given only by way of example. In particular, without going beyond the framework of the invention, one can make detailed modifications and change certain means for equivalent means.

What is claimed is:

1. Device for the simultaneous measurement of the distance d and the radial speed v of a moving object,

comprsing a laser source capable of transmitting at least one light pulse with frequency 7, in the direction of said moving object, detector means for detecting a light pulse reflected from said moving object at freqnecy 7 the freqeuency ya 1- 7 being proportional to v, means for counting the time At separating the instant of transmission of said pulse at frequency 7, and the instant of detection of said pulse at frequency 7 d being proportional to At, a laser source for transmitting a reference light beam at frequency y, optical means for diverting, in a common direction, a portion of said pulse at frequency a portion of said pulse at frequency and a portion of the beam at frequency 'y, detection means, arranged in said common direction, for transmitting signals at freqency 'y, -y and 'y 'y, the output of said detection means being connected to the input of a device for the spectral analysis of signals at frequency 7 'y and 7 7, said device for the spectral analysis comprising a transducer, an acoustic-optical tank and means for illuminating said tank with a light beam.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein said source capable of transmitting at least one light pulse, includes a light modulator positioned in a path to receive a portion of said beam at frequency 7.

3. Device according to claim I, wherein said light beam illuminating said tank is inclined with respect to the said tank by an angle equal one half of the Bragg angle relative to the average frequency transmitted by said transducer.

4. Device according to claim 1, further including a plurality of transducers with different pass bands, and a plurality of acoustic-optical tanks, each of said transducers being connected to an acoustic-optical tank arranged in the path of said beam, each of said tanks being inclined upon said light beam by an angle equal to one half the Bragg angle relative to the central frequency of the pass band of the transducer which is associated with it. 

1. Device for the simultaneous measurement of the distance d and the radial speed v of a moving object, comprsing a laser source capable of transmitting at least one light pulse with frequency gamma 1 in the direction of said moving object, detector means for detecting a light pulse reflected from said moving object at freqnecy gamma 2, the freqeuency gamma a 1- gamma 2 being proportional to v, means for counting the time Delta t separating the instant of transmission of said pulse at frequency gamma 1 and the instant of detection of said pulse at frequency gamma 2, d being proportional to Delta t, a laser source for transmitting a reference light beam at frequency gamma , optical means for diverting, in a common direction, a portion of said pulse at frequency gamma 1, a portion of said pulse at frequency gamma 2, and a portion of the beam at frequency gamma , detection means, arranged in said common direction, for transmitting signals at freqency gamma 1 - gamma and gamma 2 - gamma , the output of said detection means being connected to the input of a device for the spectral analysis of signals at frequency gamma 1 - gamma and gamma 2 - gamma , said device for the spectral analysis comprising a transducer, an acousticoptical tank and means for illuminating said tank with a light beam.
 2. Device according to claim 1, wherein said source capable of transmitting at least one light pulse, includes a light modulator positioned in a path to receive a portion of said beam at frequency gamma .
 3. Device according to claim 1, wherein said light beam illuminating said tank is inclined with respect to the said tank by an angle equal one half of the Bragg angle relative to the average frequency transmitted by said transducer.
 4. Device according to claim 1, further including a plurality of transducers with different pass bands, and a plurality of acoustic-optical tanks, each of said transducers being connected to an acoustic-optical tank arranged in the path of said beam, each of said tanks being inclined upon said light beam by an angle equal to one half the Bragg angle relative to the central frequency of the pass band of the transducer which is associated with it. 